Can I Claim Compensation If There Were No Witnesses To My Accident Or Injury?

If you have been injured in an accident which was not your fault you could be eligible to make a personal injury compensation claim. In order to do so, you will need to provide evidence which shows someone else was liable for your accident and the injuries you suffered. If you were alone at the time of the accident, you may be asking, “Can I claim compensation if there were no witnesses?”

When making a compensation claim, you need to clearly show that the defendant owed you a duty of care and that they breached it. A duty of care is a legal obligation to help ensure your reasonable health and safety. For example, you are owed a duty of care by your employer under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974. Part of proving their liability is being able to provide strong evidence of the injuries you suffered due to them breaching their duty of care. Witness statements can help to corroborate your claim.

Below, we look at how you can still claim compensation even if there were no witnesses to your accident. We also examine how one of our expert No Win No Fee solicitors could help you with making your personal injury claim, and support your chances of success.

To discuss your case today, you can contact our advisory team:

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What Are Witnesses In A Personal Injury Claim?

In order for you to make a personal injury claim, you must establish that the other party is liable for your accident and subsequent injuries. A witness is someone who saw your accident or injury occur. They could provide a statement later into the claiming process about how your accident occurred. Their statement may also help with proving that the defendant breached the duty of care they owed you.

Examples of different types of personal injury claims a witness statement could support include:

However, you may still may be able to make a compensation claim, even if there were no witnesses to your accident. Continue reading our guide to learn more. Additionally, you can contact our advisors to discuss your specific case.

What Is An Independent Witness?

An independent witness is a person who does not closely know anyone involved in the accident but who witnessed the accident taking place.

Independent witness statements may carry more weight than those of people closely connected with the claimant, as they will be able to provide an unbiased account of the accident. This is comparative to, for example, a friend or family member of the claimant as their statement may be swayed to support the claimant’s version of events.

An example of an independent witness would be a pedestrian who witnessed a car accident taking place at a junction due to one of the drivers running a red light, and the witness does not know either of the drivers.

Alternatively, the passenger in the car accident of the car that ran the red light may be biased to help support that driver’s version of events.

For more information about who could act as an independent witness in a compensation claim, please contact our advisors today. They can also offer you a free eligibility assessment of your case. You can also continue reading to learn the answer to ‘Can I claim compensation if there were no witnesses to my accident?’.

A person witnesses a road traffic accident

How Important Are Witness Statements When Claiming?

Having a witness to your accident can help to show why your account of the incident is correct. Without a witness, there may be greater disputes between the claimant and defendant about the circumstances of the incident.

Other evidence, such as medical evidence, can still be very important, but having someone who saw the incident take place can increase the chance of you making a successful claim.

Any eyewitnesses may be able to provide a corroborating account. This can help to show that your account is accurate and that you have not exaggerated any aspects of it.

We should note that whilst statements from witnesses are important, they are not essential. You could still claim compensation with no witness. In the next section, we explore this in more depth.

Contact our team to discuss your case and see whether you could still claim compensation even if there were no witnesses to your accident.

Can I Claim Compensation If There Were No Witnesses?

The simplest answer to the question, “Can I claim compensation if there were no witnesses?” is yes. Whilst eyewitness statements could help support your claim, they are not needed in order to make a compensation claim. As long as you can prove that your injuries were caused by someone breaching a duty of care that they owed, you could still make a claim for compensation,

Additionally, there are other forms of evidence that you could collect to help support your case. This could include:

  • Video footage: Any CCTV or dashcam footage could show how the accident took place. The footage may also be date-stamped, showing exactly when the accident took place.
  • Photographic evidence. You may have been able to take photos of the scene of the accident as well as of any visible injuries. This can help to show that the incident did occur and that you were harmed.
  • Medical evidence. Medical evidence, such as your medical records, can help to show what injury you sustained and how severe the injury was. Medical evidence can also show what your prospect of recovery will be.

Whether you were injured in an accident in a shop, at work or on the road, our expert solicitors could help you with gathering relevant evidence to help support your case. Contact our advisors today to see whether you could work with one of them.

A shop worker cleans a supermarket floor.

What Is The Balance Of Probabilities In Personal Injury Claims?

When making a personal injury claim, your case will be assessed using the balance of probabilities. In order to have a successful claim, your case will need to prove that your account of the accident is more likely by any disputed version presented by the defendant. The balance only needs to be 51% in your favour for a claim to be successful.

This is why having sufficient evidence that supports your accounts of events is an essential step in the claims process. As previously mentioned, although a witness statement could help with corroborating your version of events, it is not essential. The other forms of evidence we listed above could help support your claim.

For more information on how a personal injury solicitor could help you to prove your claim, please contact our team.

Contact Us To See If You Can Make A Personal Injury Claim

Now that we have answered, ‘Can I claim compensation if there were no witnesses to my accident?’, you may have other questions, such as ‘How could a solicitor help me claim?’.

Although not a requirement, working with a solicitor on your case can come with many advantages. For example, as part of their services, they could help you:

  • Gather supporting evidence.
  • Communicate with the defendant.
  • Negotiate your compensation settlement to account for your injuries and any financial losses they have caused you.

A No Win No Fee solicitor from our team could offer to handle your case under a Conditional Fee Agreement. This is a way for you to work with a specialist solicitor without having to pay them anything for their services in advance or during the progression of your claim. You also will not need to pay them for their completed work should the claim fail.

Instead, with a CFA, you will pay your solicitor a success fee out of your compensation. However, the law limits what percentage this fee can be.

For further guidance on how to prove a personal injury claim, even if there were no witnesses to your accident, you can contact our advisors:

A solicitor sits at a desk with a scale and gavel on it.

More Resources About Claiming Personal Injury Compensation

Here, we have included further personal injury compensation claims guides:

Additional resources

We hope this guide has answered the question, “Can I claim compensation if there were no witnesses?”. For more information on how to claim compensation with a personal injury solicitor, please contact our team.